Agreement Regarding Discovery Of Electronically Stored Information

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 PAGE - 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT [PLAINTIFF] , Plaintiff, v. [DEFENDANT], Defendant. CASE NO. [CASE #] [MODEL] AGREEMENT REGARDING DISCOVERY OF ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER [The italicized portions below set forth guidance and instruction to the parties in formulating their agreement but may be deleted from the text of the final agreement as adopted.] The parties hereby stipulate to the following provisions regarding the discovery of electronically stored information (223ESI224) in this matter: A. General Principles 1. An attorney222s zealous representation of a client is not compromised by conducting discovery in a cooperative manner. The failure of counsel or the parties to litigation to cooperate in facilitating and reasonably limiting discovery requests and responses raises litigation costs and contributes to the risk of sanctions. 2. The proportionality standard set forth in Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) must be applied in each case when formulating a discovery plan. To further the application of the proportionality American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 PAGE - 2 standard in discovery, requests for production of ESI and related responses should be reasonably targeted, clear, and as specific as possible. B. ESI Disclosures Within 30 days after the Rule 26(f) conference, or at a later time if agreed to by the parties, each party shall disclose: 1. Custodians. The five custodians most likely to have discoverable ESI in their possession, custody or control. The custodians shall be identified by name, title, connection to the instant litigation, and the type of the information under his/her control. 2. Non-custodial Data Sources. A list of non-custodial data sources (e.g. shared drives, servers, etc.), if any, likely to contain discoverable ESI. 3. Third-Party Data Sources. A list of third-party data sources, if any, likely to contain discoverable ESI (e.g. third-party email and/or mobile device providers, 223cloud224 storage, etc.) and, for each such source, the extent to which a party is (or is not) able to preserve information stored in the third-party data source. 4. Inaccessible Data. A list of data sources, if any, likely to contain discoverable ESI (by type, date, custodian, electronic system or other criteria sufficient to specifically identify the data source) that a party asserts is not reasonably accessible under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(B). [Section (C)(3)(a)(i) below sets forth data sources and ESI which are not required to be preserved by the parties. Those data sources and ESI do not need to be included on this list.] C. Preservation of ESI The parties acknowledge that they have a common law obligation to take reasonable and proportional steps to preserve discoverable information in the party222s possession, custody or control. With respect to preservation of ESI, the parties agree as follows: 1. Absent a showing of good cause by the requesting party, the parties shall not be required to modify the procedures used by them in the ordinary course of business to back-up American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 PAGE - 3 and archive data; provided, however, that the parties shall preserve all discoverable ESI in their possession, custody or control. 2. All parties shall supplement their disclosures in accordance with Rule 26(e) with discoverable ESI responsive to a particular discovery request or mandatory disclosure where that data is created after a disclosure or response is made (unless excluded under (C)(3) or (D)(1)-(2) below). 3. Absent a showing of good cause by the requesting party, the following categories of ESI need not be preserved: a. Deleted, slack, fragmented, or other data only accessible by forensics. b. Random access memory (RAM), temporary files, or other ephemeral data that are difficult to preserve without disabling the operating system. c. On-line access data such as temporary internet files, history, cache, cookies, and the like. d. Data in metadata fields that are frequently updated automatically, such as last-opened dates (see also Section (E)(5)). e. Back-up data that are substantially duplicative of data that are more accessible elsewhere. f. Server, system or network logs. g. Data remaining from systems no longer in use that is unintelligible on the systems in use. h. Electronic data (e.g. email, calendars, contact data, and notes) sent to or from mobile devices (e.g., iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry devices), provided that a copy of all such electronic data is routinely saved elsewhere (such as on a server, laptop, desktop computer, or 223cloud224 storage). [The parties should confer regarding any other categories of ESI that may not need to be preserved, such as text messages and social media data, in light of the General Principles set forth above, and determine whether they can agree that such categories can be added to the non- preservation list above.] D. Privilege [The parties should confer regarding the nature and scope of privilege logs for the case, including whether categories of information may be excluded from any logging requirements and American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 PAGE - 4 whether alternatives to document-by-document logs can be exchanged.] 1. With respect to privileged or work-product information generated after the filing of the complaint, parties are not required to include any such information in privilege logs. 2. Activities undertaken in compliance with the duty to preserve information are protected from disclosure and discovery under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(3)(A) and (B). 3. Information produced in discovery that is protected as privileged or work product shall be immediately returned to the producing party, and its production shall not constitute a waiver of such protection, if: (i) such information appears on its face to have been inadvertently produced or (ii) the producing party provides notice within 15 days of discovery by the producing party of the inadvertent production. 4. Privilege Log Based on Metadata. The parties agree that privilege logs shall include a unique identification number for each document and the basis for the claim (attorney-client privileged or work-product protection). For ESI, the privilege log may be generated using available metadata, including author/recipient or to/from/cc/bcc names; the subject matter or title and date created. Should the available metadata provide insufficient information for the purpose of evaluating the privilege claim asserted, the producing party shall include such additional information as required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. E. ESI Discovery Procedures 1. On-site inspection of electronic media. Such an inspection shall not be permitted absent a demonstration by the requesting party of specific need and good cause or by agreement of the parties. 2. Search methodology. [The Court presumes that in the majority of cases, the use of search terms will be reasonably necessary to locate or filter ESI likely to contain discoverable information.] The parties shall timely attempt to reach agreement on appropriate search terms, or an appropriate computer- or technology-aided methodology, before any such effort is undertaken. The parties shall continue to cooperate in revising the appropriateness of the search terms or American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 PAGE - 5 computer- or technology-aided methodology. In the absence of agreement on appropriate search terms, or an appropriate computer- or technology-aided methodology, the following procedures shall apply: a. A producing party shall disclose the search terms or queries, if any, and methodology that it proposes to use to locate ESI likely to contain discoverable information. The parties shall meet and confer to attempt to reach a